The present invention relates to a segmented, discardable sabot for a slender, sub-caliber kinetic energy projectile.
A conventional dual-flange sabot (push-pull sabot) which includes a front caliber-sized guide flange and a rear caliber-sized pressure flange and which has a rotationally symmetrical cross section over its entire length is shown in FIG. 1. Dual-flange sabots having at least one longitudinal rib on the back of a sabot segment between the front guide flange and the rear pressure flange are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,326,464 and in German Patent No. 3,704,027. Further, conventional single-flange sabots (pull sabot) having a thrust and guide flange at the front and gas-permeable guide webs at the rear are disclosed, for example, in German Patent No.2,836,963 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,542,696, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. No. 4,444,114. Here, too, the sabot segments are provided with a longitudinal rib in their central circumferential region in order to increase bending strength.
The advantage of a longitudinal rib structure is that it imparts a high bending stiffness to the reduced caliber intermediate region of the sabot between the front guide flange and the rear pressure flange for the process of releasing it from the projectile body as a result of the attacking air after it leaves the gun barrel. The disadvantage, however, is that, during firing and accelaration in the gun barrel and for the transfer of thrust from the sabot to the circumference of the projectile, longitudinal ribs always lie essentially outside the axial force lock and therefore, for the most part, constitute a "dead mass." Moreover the milling of a sabot segment with longitudinal ribs is cost intensive, particularly if the longitudinal ribs also have a diagonal or helical configuration as shown, for example in German Patent No. 3,704,027. Expensive, specifically shaped special tools are required to produce the longitudinal ribs and to work on the intermediate material.
It is characteristic for a conventional dual-flange sabot having a rotationally symmetrical cross section as shown in FIG. 1 that a rotationally symmetrical conical or cylindrical reduction in cross section is provided between the front flange and the rear pressure flange in front of the frontal rounding radius of the rear pressure flange. For reasons of fire resistance during passage through the tube, a significantly greater reduction in cross section would be possible in the region behind the front guide flange since hardly any thrust forces coming from the sabot are introduced at this point into the penetrator (projectile). A relatively large cross-sectional area in this region is required, however, to give the sabot segments the necessary bending stiffness during the discarding process after they leave the gun muzzle. Conventional dual-flange sabots thus have the disadvantage of being overly heavy particularly in the region behind the front guide flange.